so. there was a gap in our reservations between colorado springs and chatfield state park (near denver). long story. but the main theme was, it was memorial day and a lot of places aren’t even open yet and the ones that are are jam packed. so, we found ourselves in a denver city park outside […]
mountains
cheyenne mountain zoo.
the weather in colorado springs has been a bit unseasonal while we’ve been here. some snow. cold. a bit unpredictable for hiking and other outdoor activities. so, when the weekend rolled around, we were pleasantly surprised when it warm(ish) and sunny, so we opted for a trip to the cheyenne mountain zoo. i will say, […]
mothers day at pikes peak.
for mothers day, we decided to drive up to the top of pikes peak, a 14,000+ foot snow capped mountain overlooking colorado springs. we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the tollbooth and were informed that moms were free, saving us $15 (which we then turned around and spent on overpriced souvenirs). the drive […]
great sand dunes national park.
when we realized that we would be sort of kind of passing near great sand dunes national park, we knew we would take a detour and spend at least a day, even if we camped out in a nearby walmart. but, our internet free campsite caused us to make a hasty exit and we found […]
the last few weeks of miscellany.
after we left santa fe, we went to a campground (villanueva state park) that was in the middle of nowhere and had no internet/cell. we stayed a night before finding a spot that was mostly in the middle of nowhere (springer, nm) but DID have internet. the next week, we went to sugarite canyon, which […]
capulin volcano national monument
due to being either pretty busy or lacking internet for the last few weeks, i have fallen quite behind in my blogging. but never fear, a flurry of blog posts is on the horizon. firstly. our trip to capulin volcano a couple of weeks ago. we were staying at a state park, in raton, where […]
bandelier national monument
warning. this post contains a billion (or 46) photos. and i exercised great restraint while choosing. i promise. on saturday morning, we departed from the walmart albuquerque and headed to a campground in santa fe. my mom had flown out the day before and was staying with her friend dash from horseshoe lake, batavia, ny. […]
cloud climbing rail trail.
somehow. last week. i convinced the two bigger lidkids to go on a three mile hike in lincoln national forest. i did a little research and found a loop that went down into a canyon a bit, then up to an old railroad trestle and then back down further, before back up to the top. […]
guadalupe mountains national park.
on sunday, we woke up bright and early, ready for our second adventure of the weekend. this time, we drove past carlsbad caverns into texas, where guadalupe mountains national park is another 30 minutes down the road. (technically carlsbad caverns national park is in the guadalupe mountain range). guadalupe mountains is home to the highest […]
big bend. window view and junior rangers.
on monday, we started out by heading over to the main visitor center, panther junction, so the kids could work on part of their junior ranger book. anytime we leave our little corner of the park, we pass through this super cute tunnel (which has an even better view coming from the other direction). at […]